ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Clasping the $4,000 check that Orlando area real estate agents handed him, Rep. John Mica stood in the F&D Cantina restaurant and described his pathway to a 13th term in Congress.
“We’ve got to get everybody out to vote,” the Florida Republican told supporters last week. “Don’t let it get caught up in any of the other races or issues.”
That seemed code for Donald Trump, whose flagging, insult-hurling GOP presidential run carries mixed blessings for Mica in his closely divided, freshly redrawn district.
Mica, 73, says Trump’s recorded comments about groping women were “vulgar and unacceptable” but still supports him. Yet in central Florida, a pivotal state in presidential and congressional elections, it’s not just the polarizing Trump who’s threatening Mica’s political career now, after few serious challenges before.
In a classic battle of old school vs. new, Mica – known for bringing federal transportation dollars back home – faces Democrat Stephanie Murphy, a political newcomer at 38. Her backstory includes her family’s harrowing seaborne escape from Vietnam as an infant, degrees from William and Mary College and Georgetown University, positions in the Pentagon and the worlds of finance and academia. She even holds a patent for women’s softball pants made by a company her husband runs.